The synagogue where the sign is located was photographed that day
Click for a larger image Translation of the text on the sign:
with God’s help
Motza in sources
The roots of the ancient synagogue Motza are planted at the dawn of the beginning of human culture. The synagogue is located in the center of a spacious compound, which was the remains of a Neolithic village approximately thousands of years old. This is the beginning of human agriculture and the period of transition to a cooperative civilization society, in a permanent settlement. There are also many remains in the complex from the period of the settlement of the children of Israel in the Land of Israel to the period of the First Temple. During this period there were huge farm buildings on the site, and it seems that Motza also served as the grain barn of Jerusalem in those days.
In the sources, Motza is mentioned for the first time as a city in the land of the tribe of Benjamin, "and the observatory and the heresy and the invention" (Joshua 18:20). An origin is also mentioned in the Book of Chronicles. In Mishnah 5, Tractate Sukkah, Chapter 4, it is narrated,
There was a place below Jerusalem and it was called Motza. They would go down there and gather branches of willow from there and come and erect them on the sides of the altar ... "
The Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmuds, and Rashi discuss the meaning of the name - origin of the colony and give flavors to the names:
That the locals are exempt from the king’s tax.
The name Motza was found imprinted on the handle of a clay urn from the 8th century BC, which was found in the Mitzpeh excavations in northern Jerusalem.
During the Roman occupation, the Land of Israel was a Roman province. The settlements of Motza and Caesarea received colonial rights. The locals, who had Roman citizenship had the authority to manage the affairs of the place. According to Josephus, Titus settled in the colony of Emmaus - the veterans of the Roman Tenth Legion - veterans, about 800 people, with their wives and children. The residents of the Legion soldiers supervised the ruins of Jerusalem and the surrounding area, and Motza actually became the center of local government. In time, the name of the place was shortened from "Colonia Emmaus" (the colony in the Emmaus region) to "Colony" only. The Byzantines built a monastery and a church on the site, as they identified the place with Emmaus in the Evangelion. During the Crusaders, the settlement of Motza was mistakenly identified as the Valley of Elah, the place where David defeated Goliath. The place is considered sacred, and a large church was erected on the site. The synagogue is located in the Crusader fortress complex. The Arabs called the complex of the Crusader fortress, "Kurt Melech El Yehud" - which means "Fortress of the King of the Jews". The preservation of the name Motza also appears in "Khirbet Beit Miza", which is an Arabic distortion of "Motza".
Throughout the Ottoman period, Motza served as a permanent rest stop on the way to Jerusalem.
The beginning of the synagogue - in modern times
In 1860, Shaul Yehuda ben Shlomo Yehezkel Yehuda, a Babylonian immigrant, and David Yellin, from Poland, began to purchase land (including water rights) in the colony - Motza. This is in order to settle in the place, to establish agriculture there, and to make a living from what they receive - and not from the distribution money as was customary. Motza became the first land acquisition by Jews living in the country in modern times, and Yellin became the first Jew to cultivate his land with his own hands - in modern times.
Since Ottoman law prohibited the sale of land to a non-Ottoman citizen, bribery and the intervention of British Consul James Payne were forced. The actual transfer of the land took place on Tevet (1861).
In 1862, a temporary structure was built, which was used by the convoys of camels and donkeys on the way from Jaffa to Jerusalem.
In 1863 the land was leased to Arab peasants. The local sheikh, Sheikh Mustafa Abu Ghosh, is destroying the buildings and harassing the business. Until they paid him a sponsorship fee and then he became the protector of the business ...
Shaul Yehuda did not get to see a blessing in the work of the land. In 1864, while immigrating to Jerusalem, he got wet in heavy rain, and died of pneumonia at the age of 24.
In 1866 - a permit was obtained to purchase land for British nationals. And the transfer of the lands to Yellin and Yehuda was completed. The purchasers are Yehoshua Yellin, son of David Yellin, and Benjamin Yechezkel Yehuda, brother of Shaul Yehuda, heir to his place.
That same year, a Yellin tenant plows the ground, and the plow encounters an iron ring, fixed (bound) to a stone that covers one of the chimneys of an ancient structure. They clean the building, and to their surprise discover an arched, largely preserved Byzantine Roman structure. A very deep ancient well was also discovered at the site, a well full of living water to this day.
In 1869, the year in which the Turks paved a paved road for the journey of chariots from Jaffa to Jerusalem, Yellin recognized the commercial potential of the place, on the very main road.
Yellin begins to build the top floor and the terrace, in order to establish a luxurious and modern khan and cafe on the site. The lower floor, is the ancient structure, used as a stable and accommodation for poultry traders. The construction was completed in 1871. The year of completion of the construction was commemorated in the stone legislation in the center at the address 1871. And this is to know: at that time, before the road was paved, the duration of the ride from Jerusalem to Motza was between one and two hours. The khan was built at Motza, which was in the valley, between two two ascents: ascent to Jerusalem on the one hand, and to Castel on the other. The riders and their horses rested at the exit before the next ascent.
It should be remembered that in those days the gates of Jerusalem were closed as darkness fell, and Motza served as a lodging station for those who speculated that they would not arrive in Jerusalem on time. On a normal trip to Jaffa, they would leave Jerusalem in the afternoon, drive about an hour to Motza, rest for about two hours, and leave again for Ramla, and most of the way is done on a cool night.
Yellin rented the khan to a Christian, who rented the building for 4 years.
1881-1880 - with the intention of utilizing the finest natural raw material found in the place, (a material that would later be called "Pale Motza"), and the water of the lush springs, founded by Yehoshua Yellin and Yechiel Michal Pines who was the representative of the "Mazkeret Moshe Montefiore" foundation - a tile factory. It was the first industrial enterprise outside the walls, the beginning of modern Jewish industry. The craft was unsuccessful, the shingles cracked, and after two years the factory closed at a loss.
1884 Mortgage of land to Jerusalem banker Haim Valiro.
1890 - Joshua Yellin sells the building to a Bnei Brit company, and builds a house for himself in a nearby yard.
1894-1892 Bnei Brit, Pines, and Yabetz, acquire plots and establish a colony. There are 4 families living there. The Israel Katz family lives in the Khan building.
1895 - The workers’ house is inaugurated by Bnei Brit. Bnei Brit acquires Katz’s share.
1905 - A group of 150 tourists from Eastern Europe, most of them from Hungary, donate 3,000 gold francs for the establishment of a synagogue and a school in the colony.
It should be noted, that the first farmers of Motza, being devout. Despite the droughts and famine, they were careful to keep the commandments of the shemita, and did not cultivate the land in the year of the shemita, even though they consequently came to poverty and starvation.
1917 - The Cohen family moves to the top floor, and shares the building with teacher Moshe David Gaon. In the third room they ran a school and a synagogue. After 1948, two Israeli potters set up a pottery factory on the site, and even built a water storage pool near the well.
In 1961, following an initiative by Rabbi Yehuda Halevi Rosini and Eli Mizrahi, it was decided to hold the minyan prayer again in the synagogue and school building (until then the prayer had been held at the Steinberg House).
Renovation of the building began, in order to prepare it as a synagogue. The renovation was carried out in stages:
In the first phase, doors and windows were inserted, while in the early 1970s the floor was replaced and a more intensive renovation was made. Over time, modern furniture was purchased. The Torah scrolls were donated mostly from the local families - Steinberg, Titler / Broza, Rozny, and a community in England.
In 1983, the Byzantine hall underwent a thorough renovation, and the place served as a banquet hall. Among other things, the strength of the structure in concrete arches, save it from collapse.
The synagogue serves as a spiritual center for the residents of the area, and even remote communities regularly come to worshipers, who are attracted to this unique place. There are prayers, lessons, and celebrations.
The community of worshipers maintains a unique character and pleasant atmosphere, while fully and truly merging postcards, and illuminating the face of all.
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